Sean Bell's pal, shot 15 times by NYPD on fateful 2006 night, still lives in fear of police violence

The first bullet tore through the darkness and into the flesh of Joseph Guzman’s upper arm.

The first bullet tore through the darkness and into the flesh of Joseph Guzman's upper arm.

Guzman stared in disbelief as his blood began to flow, but the scene was all too real. The crackle of incessant gunfire filled the Queens street, and there was nowhere to hide.

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"(Then) he shot me in my shoulder," the 41-year-old Guzman recalled. "I was shot in the leg, the face, everywhere."

By the time the shooting stopped, the unarmed Guzman was pierced by another 15 bullets — all fired by the NYPD. His pal Sean Bell was mortally wounded after five cops unleashed 50 bullets, turning bachelor party night into a bloodbath.

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Doctors told Guzman he would never walk again — but he proved them wrong. Yet optimism and hope are in short supply for the survivor of the Nov. 25, 2006, shooting that left a third man, Trent Benefield, wounded four times.

"We're in the same place we were 10 years ago," said Guzman, reflecting on this year's highly publicized police shootings of black men in Oklahoma, North Carolina, Minnesota and Louisiana.

Joseph Guzman wears a chain commemorating his late friend Sean Bell. Guzman also named his son after Bell. (Roberts, Matthew,,freelance/Roberts, Matthew,,freelance)

"Nothing's changed. It's not going to change. It's going to continue to happen ... The police get acquitted, and they go home to their family."

Guzman — who named his now 7-year-old son after Bell — recounted how his anger about the decade-old shooting morphed over time into bitterness and a kind of fatalism.

"I moved to North Carolina because I didn't want the police to shoot me again," he said. "I believed if I stayed in New York, I'd be shot dead. My wife and I talk all the time.

"Whenever one of these things happens, my wife will be like, 'Oh, the officer's going to jail.' I say, 'The police officer is not going to jail.' Every time, I'm right."

None of the five officers who squeezed off shots into the Nissan Altima were ever convicted, with three acquitted at trial and the other two never charged. One of the cops fired a staggering 31 shots from a .9-mm handgun, reloading at least once.

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Bell's family, poised to celebrate his wedding that day, was left instead to make funeral plans.

Guzman was riding in the front passenger seat with groom-to-be Bell at the wheel and pal Benefield in the back seat when the shooting started around 4 a.m. outside the strip joint Club Kalua.

None of the three men inside the car was armed.

Guzman, when he saw a man running toward their vehicle with a gun drawn, thought it was a robbery. The man turned out to be a police detective. Guzman remembers every detail with remarkable clarity.

"I was conscious the whole time," explained Guzman. "I was conscious until they medically induced me into a coma."

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Sean Bell (seen with daughter Jada) was killed on the day of his wedding as police opened fire on his vehicle. (Craig Warga)

Guzman believes he survived only because Benefield bolted from their car and ran for his life.

"They shot him as he was running up the block," Guzman said. "They transferred the gunfire toward him. If he didn't do that, I'm dead in the car."

Guzman remains in touch with Bell's then-fiancée Nicole, and their two daughters, 13-year-old Jada and 10-year-old Jordyn.

"If Sean could see his kids today, he would be so proud," said Guzman. "Their mother is an excellent mother. It's sad, but there's comfort about that."

Guzman sees both the good in Bell's two girls and the sadness in Nicole's face.

Bell remains in the thoughts of pal Joseph Guzman (pictured), who was with the groom-to-be as police opened fire on their vehicle. Guzman was shot 15 times that night.(Roberts, Matthew,,freelance/Roberts, Matthew,,freelance)

"The truth is still there — her husband got killed on their wedding day," said Guzman. "If you see her, it's all still there."

Just one of the five cops involved in the killing remains with the NYPD: Officer Michael Carey, who fired three times.

Gescard Isnora — who took the first shot, igniting the firing frenzy — lives in Brooklyn. His lawyer didn't return a call for comment.

Michael Oliver, the cop who fired 31 times, works as a sales rep at internet security firm CipherTechs, according to his Linkedin page.

Oliver didn't return requests for comment. His wife, reached at their two-story home on a leafy dead-end street in northern New Jersey, said he "probably won't" agree to an interview.

The car in which Bell, Guzman and Trent Benefield were in when they were shot by cops. (Vic Nicastro/Nicastro, Vic freelance NYDN)

She was right.

Records show Marc Cooper, who squeezed off four rounds, lives in Florida. He was the only one of the three detectives tried for the shooting to offer an apology to the Bell family.

Paul Headley, who fired three times, also moved to the Sunshine State, records show. And Gary Napoli, the former lieutenant who headed the undercover team, declined comment at his Westchester County home.

Guzman said he still lives with the scars of that night — both physical and emotional. His left leg holds a metal rod from the knee down. He wore a medical boot for seven years to heal a damaged nerve.

None of the officers involved were convicted in Bell's death. Two were never charged. (Obtained by News)

Three months ago, Guzman was out for a light jog when one of the bullets still lodged in his body suddenly popped loose in his lower back.

"I rushed to the hospital and they cut it out," he said. "I have all four of the bullets they took out. There are still three in me."

Guzman says his particular brand of post-traumatic stress disorder hits after after each new police-involved shooting.

"Every time it happens to somebody else, it's in the back of my head for four weeks, a month at a time," he said. "I can't get it out of my head."